Creatives make the best sales people

In the recent launch show of our new business masterclass video series, the opening act, Kimi Gilbert of Future Factory set a very high bar by giving viewers an overview of the elements that agency owners need, in order to do new business and find new clients.

One story in particular stood out for me because it has been a running theme through the 105+ Fuel podcasts that we’ve done – namely that creative agency founders, leaders and CEOs make the best new business people.

Kimi said: “I’ve spent a lot of time with people at agencies over the year and without a doubt they’re some of the most resourceful and creative people I’ve ever met. They are natural problem solvers but I’ve noticed that they’re often reluctant to apply the same rigor and creative thinking to growing their own businesses…if they were to apply even a fraction of the creativity, time and energy to growing their businesses as they do solving brand challenges, it would absolutely transform their companies.”

Because despite the fact that many of them consider themselves ill-equipped to be great sales people, in this day and age, the honesty, experience and what I call ‘Agency founderism’ that pervades their conversations is exactly what’s needed to reassure clients that their work or brief is in expert hands.

In my capacity as host of the Fuel podcast, I thought I’d extrapolate Kimi’s point and review what some of the UK’s leading agency founders and creatives have told me about the new business process and how they think business is won.

The number one most important thing you can do for your new business strategy is have work that people admire

Helen Calcraft of Lucky Generals is by her own admission a “new business girl at heart” but she’s also one of the industry’s best known and most respected agency leaders. To her, the secret’s in the portfolio.

This may sound blindingly obvious, but it’s often overlooked. The client/agency relationship begins with doing work for other clients that they respect. Clients love to work with agencies whose work has resonated with them.

“The number one most important thing you can do for your new business strategy is have work that people admire. Your new business strategy is always most powerfully located in having a suite of work that, when a client is thinking, ‘Oh, I need to find a new agency, what advertising have I seen that I admire?’ and then look it up. That is still the most powerful thing to have - to have great work,” said Helen.

And this is the very core of new business - whatever your industry; being hired on the strength of work that your prospect admires.

But so often in the agency world, this gets lost in translation and results in a ‘catch-all’ general creds portfolio, designed to cover all the bases.

If you’re starting out on a new business campaign, it’s advisable to think about the target. New business consultants often begin by asking their agency CEOs “who is your ideal client?” only to be met with the usual responses of Coca Cola or Microsoft or Apple.

This immediately impacts on the new business effort. Have you done any work that Coca-Cola (or Apple or Microsoft) would be interested in? If the answer is none, then go back to the drawing board.

If the answer is some, let’s have a look at it and see if this could be parlayed into a proposition for the wider soft drinks industry. Let’s create dedicated landing pages for the web site and design a creative new business outreach campaign based on a tailored approach, so that the right people see the best examples of your creative work, which resonates with them and matches your proposition.

The main point about being more selective is that you cut down on unnecessary waste of effort.

Because if you run a small agency, you thrive on economy of movement – less is more. And this also applies to business development.

The Staircase model

James Murphy , one of the founders of adam&eveDDB and now leading New Commercial Arts. understands both positions but still cherishes the early years of agency life. The years when everything is on the table and the agency is still exploring new worlds.

He told me that he prefers the staircase method of acquiring new business: “I think when you're small and growing, you have to choose your pitches carefully. And then go all in on them. When we were building Adam & Eve, it grew like a kind of staircase. You'd have these periods where you'd pitch for several things. And then you'd level off, you win them and bed them in and level off. And then you go out and pitch again for another period. That kind of staircase model is a good way of growing because it allows you to pitch intensely, then then pull the shutters down for a while you bed in and start to deliver your first work for them before you then go back out.”

It demonstrates how you can spin both plates at the same time and work the creative and new business meetings synchronously.

This way, as an agency leader, you get to manage the direction of your business. By exerting more control over what clients and what work to take on, you begin to shape and create your agency’s brand.

We don't need to win clients that don't want to make what we make.

One of the most recognizable agency ‘brands’ is that of the ever-creative Uncommon Creative Studio , the agency that Nils Leonard helped to found after leading Grey London. At Grey, Nils confessed to chasing everything. He admitted to owning a ‘win’, ‘lose’ and ‘draw’ chart, where he measured the performance of the agency, but soon realized that way lies trouble: “It dawned on me that just trying to win in general is the industry's problem,” he said. “Because what happens is, you just want to win. And then [the client says] ‘we’d like you to do this thing’ and you realize it's not the thing you wish you could do every day.”

Which is the point where the rot starts to set in.

Your agency is slowly being forced in a direction that doesn’t inspire you or your team and certainly won’t inspire new clients.

Any creative leader understands this dilemma; entering into a creative devil’s bargain. You know it’s not right creatively but you need to do it to keep the lights on.

How did you get into this position?

Isn’t this the tail wagging the dog?

You’re running a creative agency and have no control over the creative destiny of your business.

When Uncommon launched, they set themselves a creative mission and then set about making that kind of work.

Nils said: “And now every time we meet anybody, we ask why are you here? If they say well, I saw a bit of work of yours or I saw the B&Q stuff, or I saw that H&M One/Second/Suit thing, they're on the right track, because they know what it is we do and they know what we enjoy making. A lot of our clients tend to be in a moment of change or a moment of wanting to transform their business or their fortunes. And what I've learned is we don't need to win clients that don't want to make what we make.

As a creative leader, it’s important to always be aware of your new business horizon, but don’t completely delegate this task to someone that doesn’t ‘get’ where you are creatively. Your new business strategy should reflect your agency’s direction, not the other way round.

When you are actively engaged in the new business process, you can provide insight and direction not only from a creative consultancy perspective but also from a strategic perspective.

Because the work you do today will determine the work you will be doing next year.

An agency is judged by the companies it keeps.

Our podcast, Fuel can be found at www.thefuelpodcast.com, where we have hundreds of interviews with agency personalities giving tips on everything from agency strategy to new business campaigns (and insights into their personal techniques).

The New business Masterclass is another example of how The Advertist is giving back to the new business industry, by capturing creative agency sales professionals’ personal views on important aspects of the business development process. Every month, we publish a new video for agency leaders and new business professionals.

The New Business Masterclass and all of The Advertist’s video resources can be found on our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnYGQllLoAV9T0q1pU8UGDw